"pop" news and stories

Every once in a while, only something sweet, cold and bubbly will quench your thirst. Even those who say they don't drink soft drinks (this writer included) crave one on the rare occasion, whether it's at the movies, a sporting event, a fast-food restaurant (for shame!) or mixed with an adult beverage.

These eight bottled beverages, ranging in color, flavor and size, are from Flickr user sevenworlds16 who sampled each as part of a pop taste test. The default winner: the very red Cherry Limeade.

Fentiman's Victorian Lemonade is at the center of an underage drinking debate in Maine after a teen at Houlton High School brought to school a bottle of the lemonade that he'd purchased from a store.

The Bangor Daily News reports officials from the Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition and the Maine Alliance to Prevent Substance Abuse are investigating because the naturally fermented beverage contains less than 0.5 percent alcohol. The incident has other officials proposing the lemonade -- brewed since 1905 -- be reclassified as "imitation liquor," which can't be sold or consumed by minors -- a move that Fentiman's officials are fighting.

The company acknowledges that some alcohol is left in the beverage.

"We remove some components of the product during that process and also add flavoring," Greg Warwick, the president of Fentimans North America, told the paper. "What we end up with is a product that is a mixture of less than 1/2 percent alcohol because of the fermentation process. The FDA [Food and Drug Administration] has deemed this safe for all ages. There should be no restrictions on the distribution or sale of the product."

The school's principal said the student turned in the half-consumed bottle of lemonade after he read there could be alcohol in the soda.

"There was no intent on the student's part to break any school rules or laws," Principal Martin Bouchard said. "This was just a harmless incident."

Should children be banned from drinking naturally fermented soda pop? Let us know in the comments.

[Via Bangor Daily News]

I'm not sure why this isn't just called National Soda Day or something similar, but I guess there are some carbonated, caffeinated beverages that aren't soda (?).

Since soda drinkers usually have their favorite sodas and don't usually stray away from it (I'm a Diet Pepsi guy after a long affair/distraction with Diet Coke), maybe we can take this day to try a carbonated, caffeinated beverage that we've never tried or maybe one we haven't had in years. I'm going to have some Dr Pepper and see if it still tastes like it did the last time I had it, during the Reagan administration I believe.

I'm not a big fan of Dr. Pepper. It's way, way down on my list when it comes to beverages, right after carrot juice but right before Clamato. But I never thought about having it hot.

But apparently it's popular among some soda drinkers, or at least it was at one point, according to the ad on the right from the 1960s. How do you make Hot Dr. Pepper? Well, you put it in a pan and warm it up until it begins to steam. Then you pour it over slices of lemon. Hmmm...I'll have to try this, for science. I wonder if it works with Pepsi and Coke?

[via Boing Boing]

I grew up in New England, and I'm not sure what other families did, but we never called the nighttime meal "dinner." We always called it "supper." Now I always call it dinner. I don't know when it changed, but somewhere along the line it did.

AOL Food has a fun poll where they ask you what you called certain food things in your region. Did you call it dinner or supper (there's also an "other" option, though I'm not sure what that would be). Sprinkles or Jimmies or 100s and 1000s? Sub, Hero, or Hoagie? Soda, Pop, or Tonic?